What upgrade would you go for? on a mid-range budget.

[Guest]

Hello all, looking to upgrade my PC to give it that much needed OMPH to keep up to speed with the latest games and software.

My current set-up.

64 bit windows 7
Gigabyte M55S-S3 Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+ running at the stock 3.00Ghz
4GB DDR2 800Mhz ram
BFG Nvidia GTX260 OC2 with a core speed of 680Mhz and a memory bus of 1100Mhz
750watt PSU (forgot the brand name)
Soilid state 80gb for windows, with 1TB of 7200rpm for storage.
3 fans blowing in cool air, 2 exhaust fans at the back and 1 on the side. GPU is saying its temperature is at 52C so stays nice and cool.

I use my PC for audio production and gaming, starting to see reduced frame rates here and there and its bugging me, but I don't think it is all down to my GPU, would also like to gain a higher export rate in Cubase too

Now, I'm looking to upgrade the motherboard, CPU and memory all at once, then get a better GPU at a later date.

Got AMD stuck in my head for some bizarre reason, mainly because it always seems cheaper.

Currently got my eyes set on this motherboard bundle at Novatech
http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/motherboardbundles/mbb-83208g.html

Would you guys and gals' recommend this for me? or is there something else out there that you would highly recommend?

Thanks.

 

[rds1220]

That set up is pretty old and both the CPU and GPU are obsolete now. You will have to do the link over again it didn't work.

 

[Guest]

Oh ok, well the main specifications of this bundle are

AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Processor
2 x 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Memory
AMD 970 Chipset

And I was going to upgrade my GPU to at GeForce GTX 660 EX OC 2GB GDDR5.

Would this set up keep me up to speed?

thanks

 

[syrupd]

The bundle you are looking at is not described well, they don't really say the brands. The main issue that stands out is the memory, it's a waste to get 1333mhz, get some high quality memory 1800+

The FX 8300 series should show it's stregth with your applications, but in combination with a 660 you may not be impressed in a year from now. I know it sounds commerical and I'll get flamed for this, but AMD pairs well with AMD, look into something in the 7000 series of GPU's, the model is up to you and your budget. I've heard good things about 7770's, but if you got the cash, go higher.

Also, for the motherboard, you want something in the 990FX chipset. It's bad to go cheap and not be very "future-proof", get something that you will still be happy with in a year from now.

 

[rds1220]

Oh ok, well the main specifications of this bundle are

AMD Bulldozer FX-8 Eight Core 8320 Processor
2 x 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz Memory
AMD 970 Chipset

And I was going to upgrade my GPU to at GeForce GTX 660 EX OC 2GB GDDR5.

Would this set up keep me up to speed?

thanks

I really wouldn't bother with any Bulldozer CPU. If you really have to go with AMD (and I wouldn't for a gaming build) atleast go with Piledriver (though I still wouldn't since it still falls behind Intel in gaming benchmarks.)

 

[Guest]

Cheers for the feedback

Going to raise my budget if I can.

Right going to go for an intel i5, still going to stick with an nivida GPU, is the GTX660 up to the task?

Bearing in mind I've had my set-up for a long time now and its only just starting to struggle.

cheers.

 

[rds1220]

What games are you going to be playing? What settings are you playing these games at and at what resolution.

 

[Guest]

ARMA 2, Chiviarly ... lots really, battlefield 3 mainly too.

Resolution will be at 1680 x 1050, would like to have have 60+/- fps on medium to high settings.